Chapter 90: Unexpected Common Ground

Today, the menu I chose was the salmon steak. It was one of the most expensive special dishes at the Business School cafeteria, a rare menu item that appeared only once or twice a year. Naturally, a massive line of students had already formed, stretching all the way past the stairs connecting the second and first floors and winding right out the entrance.

Stepping into the very back of the line, I let out a soft groan.

“I should have come a bit earlier.”

“Yeah, we should have.”

The moment Na Eun-hyeok spoke, I noticed the people around us immediately turning their heads. Every single person, regardless of gender, was staring at him with sticky, intense fascination. Am I looking at him with that exact same expression? The thought made me feel a little disheartened.

But right at that moment, another thought crossed my mind. Was Na Eun-hyeok really okay with being stared at like this all the time?

Being the center of attention was far more exhausting than it looked. My past few days in Zelphia had taught me that lesson loud and clear. Having total strangers know who you are, and watching bizarre rumors spread by people who claim to know you well, was deeply draining. I had only dealt with it for a few days in a virtual reality game—and even then, hanging around Sephiroth had mostly fixed the issue. But in reality, Na Eun-hyeok had been enduring this for years. And out here, he didn’t have a Sephiroth to sweep all those prying eyes away for him.

“Hey.”

I called out to him in a quiet voice. Eun-hyeok glanced down at me.

“Should we go somewhere else?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Isn’t it uncomfortable when there are this many people around?”

I took another look at the crowd. The gazes pinned to a celebrity like Na Eun-hyeok weren’t always pleasant. There was admiration and curiosity, sure, but also amusement, jealousy, and envy. I could hear some of the whispers from the people muttering to each other even from here. Since I was also just one of the many people hovering around him and looking at him the same way, I had no right to judge or condemn them. But at the very least, if Eun-hyeok wanted to avoid it, I could help him step out of their line of sight.

Eun-hyeok held my gaze for a moment. After a brief silence, he asked back.

“Do you dislike crowded places, Un-ha-ya?”

“No, it’s not really that.”

“Then why?”

“Because I thought you might be uncomfortable. You’re famous, after all.”

Eun-hyeok stared at me silently for a beat. A strange, unreadable shadow seemed to pass over his usually smiling face. I looked into his eyes but quickly averted my gaze. My weak heart simply couldn’t handle locking eyes with him for too long. Besides, even if I kept looking, I wouldn’t have been able to tell what he was thinking. He was always impossible to read.

As I kept my head bowed, a soft, amused chuckle floated down from above me.

“I’m fine.”

Really? I lifted my head. The strange expression that had briefly crossed his face was long gone, replaced by his usual calm demeanor.

“Yeah? Just tell me if it ever gets uncomfortable.”

“No, really, it’s fine. I’m used to it.”

Being used to something didn’t mean it was okay. But with him putting it that way, there wasn’t much else I could say. Behind us, I heard someone whisper, “Look, it’s Na Eun-hyeok.” Keeping that sound in the back of my mind, I spoke up quietly.

“If you want to move somewhere else later, just let me know. I know a few places that aren’t crowded.”

“Thanks for looking out for me.”

Eun-hyeok gave me a bright smile, looking exactly like he always did. But for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he didn’t entirely mean it.

“More importantly, Un-ha-ya. What do you usually do on your days off?”

As if trying to push away the slightly awkward air that had settled between us, Eun-hyeok dropped the question out of nowhere.

“Oh, me?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded, and I opened my mouth to answer. Let’s see, what exactly did I do…?

All I did was play Zelphia!

I used to have other hobbies, but ever since I started Zelphia, my life had been completely held hostage by it. School, then Zelphia. Zelphia, then school. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say my life was split entirely down the middle. Especially lately, I had been so busy trying to reach Diamond League that outside of doing assignments, almost every spare second went into the game. I had spent far more time seeing Gyu-tae and Sung-jin inside Zelphia than I had seen them in the real world. Now I finally understood those news reports that used to warn everyone about how Zelphia was turning people into total recluses. It really did turn you into one.

“Uh, well…”

I just play games. I was about to answer honestly, but I hesitated. The last time I met Eun-hyeok and he asked if I played games, I had impulsively told him no. Why did I even do that? It felt ridiculous to suddenly confess now that I was actually a total Zelphia addict.

“Lately, I’ve been playing a game.”

Still, I didn’t want to keep lying to him. Even small, trivial lies had a way of snowballing until they became too big to handle.

Hearing my confession, Eun-hyeok blinked in surprise, tilting his head slightly before breaking into a soft smirk.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t play last time?”

“Ah, that… the words just came out wrong back then.”

“What game do you play?”

“Zelphia. I started not too long ago.”

“Oh, Zelphia? I play that too.”

“Huh? Really?”

My eyes widened completely as I stared at him. He played Zelphia? I mean, of course he could, but given the kind of crowd he usually hung out with, I had never imagined him playing video games.

“Don’t the guys you hang out with prefer going to pool halls?”

“Probably.”

“Do you go to capsule rooms too, then?”

“No. I have a personal capsule at home.”

“Ah.”

Right, I forgot Na Eun-hyeok lived by himself in a nice apartment. His family was well-off, and he had been incredibly successful as a child actor, so buying a personal capsule was nothing to him.

Still, I couldn’t picture Na Eun-hyeok playing Zelphia at all. Maybe it was because the only high-level player I knew well was Sephiroth. I imagined Na Eun-hyeok dressed up like Sephiroth, having a deadly serious, dramatic showdown with a wild elk mob, and I let out a sudden laugh.

It didn’t suit him at all!

“Why are you laughing?”

“Oh, nothing. I just can’t picture you playing games.”

“Really? I’m actually good at games,” Eun-hyeok added, sounding playfully defensive.

I smiled and nodded. It wasn’t that I thought he’d be bad at it—he was good at everything he did. I was just genuinely curious about his playstyle.

Ah, maybe he plays like AngelA?

I thought of AngelA, who always gave Na-Gorang a gentle smile and a warm greeting whenever she couldn’t hide her inner fangirl. Come to think of it, that persona suited Na Eun-hyeok perfectly. Polite, good-natured, and kind. The fact that AngelA was a cute little ferret avatar was a bit of a mismatch, but I could definitely overlook that.

“Are you max level?”

“Yeah. Max level.”

“I see. I only started recently, so I’m still around level 70.”

“Leveling up in Zelphia is pretty brutal. Most games give you a level-jump event around that point, but Zelphia doesn’t really do things like that.”

Eun-hyeok went on to talk about the game in quite a bit of detail. Hearing him speak, it was obvious he wasn’t just a casual user who dabbled in it for a day or two. He was definitely a veteran who enjoyed the end-game content. There were plenty of high-level players like that in Zelphia, so it wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but a sudden rush of excitement washed over me just knowing that we shared a common interest.

It took about twenty minutes to finally get our salmon steaks from the long line. During that time, Eun-hyeok and I chatted back and forth about all sorts of things in Zelphia. He knew the game much better than I expected, allowing the conversation to flow completely naturally.

Just in case, I made sure to keep quiet about being on a hidden quest or clearing the Nightmare difficulty dungeon. I had already become accidentally famous just by running around with Sephiroth, and I didn’t want Eun-hyeok coming across the internet rumors about me and forming some weird prejudice.

Because it was my first time talking to him for this long and from such a close distance, my mouth felt completely dry. Fighting off a wave of nervous nausea, I forced the corners of my mouth up into an awkward smile and nodded along mechanically. It felt a bit pathetic that I had to consider this a “success,” but I couldn’t help it. This was the absolute best I could do.

Watching Na Eun-hyeok effortlessly turn a standard cafeteria lunch into looking like a fine dining experience, I muttered under my breath like a passing thought.

“I really didn’t expect you to play Zelphia.”

“So many people play it. I bet the other guys have accounts too.”

“True. Everyone keeps telling me I started incredibly late.”

“Who cares? As long as you’re having fun.”

“Yeah, exactly. It’s so fun that I actually regret not starting sooner.”

Ultimately, the reason anyone gets so absorbed in a game is because it’s fun. The only reason I put up with Sephiroth’s awful, explosive temper and kept tagging along with him was because the thrill of clearing quests together vastly outweighed the pain of dealing with his personality. Lately, maybe because I was getting used to him, Sephiroth’s outbursts actually made me laugh a little.

Wait. Is that a problem?

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Radioactive

#EsperXGuideActionAngst

Read Now →
Not interested